Spiritual Cyanide

Acts 6:15, 1 Peter 2:1

Mankind has a deep appetite for verbal smut. The Bible calls it calls it “slander”.  You may very well be guilty when you ask, “what’s the latest on _______________?”

Slander is a fabricated statement about someone that lowers your respect of them.  I don’t think there’s a more damaging sin against the body of Christ when slander is permitted to exist against a brother or sister. There is no end to the pain that it can cause.

This morning I read another great story from the Book of Acts (Acts 6:8-15) where this deadly tool was pulled from Satan’s drawer.  The disciple Stephen was full of grace and power and was preaching the news of the resurrected Jesus.  Those that didn’t believe in the resurrection tried to debate with Stephen but soon found that he had great wisdom and couldn’t win with the facts.  Their only resort was to bring him down through slander. 

Think on that for a moment.  What hours of truth seeking could not accomplish, a single slanderous statement given to a verbal-smut-craved person brought him down in moments.

What’s my point: I want to encourage you to reject verbal smut. Peter says “get rid of … slander” (1 Peter 2:1).  By putting it to death means that you don’t buy it on the grocery stand, listen to it on TV or give your time to hearing it about someone you know.   It is Spiritual Cyanide among believers.

What the body needs: Is a spirit of grace and truth.  Be lovers of what is true – starting with God’s Word. Nurture your appetite for the truth of God’s Word.  In John 14:6, Jesus replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

A couple good questions to ask someone before listening to their story: Is this what you know or what you heard?  What is your motive for telling me?

I Was Reading the Bible…

John 6:63 “The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (NETBible)

I’m just like everyone else – I start with the best of intentions to read the Bible but a month down the road it is almost a forgotten exercise.  Been there?  Are you there now?

Why should you even bother with personal Bible reading? 

“I get enough Bible at Church every weekend. I’m even part of a Small Group and don’t have time for more.  If I’m honest, I generally fall asleep when I read anyway.”

And so why bother? In my experience it is the most powerful way to give you (or give you back) a thirst for God. When we personally study the Bible, we will begin to experience to the life that is intrinsically built into the Scriptures.

Need a fresh start?

1. take up a short-term challenge. (I have created several – you can find them on my website)
2. always read the Bible with a journal.
3. After reading your Bible passage, write a 1) a summary of what you read.  2) A Truth  3) an application.

Here’s what I am doing right now:

I have an Accountability Partner.  We have committed to read and journal our way through the 75 stories in the Book of Acts. We touch base every week to check how we’re doing – we don’t make it a big thing and we are not rigid with our schedule.  If you miss a few days it’s no big deal.  The important thing is that we encourage each other to keep at it.

Here’s my point:  I want to encourage you to personally read and study God’s Word.  It’s the only way you will experience a true thirst for God and His Word.  It’s the only way to find true spiritual joy.

To download the “Project Acts” reading schedule: Bible Reading Schedules
To read my daily journal from the Project Acts:Project Acts Journal
Need some accountability: FaceBook Bible Study Group

God’s Science Project

Psalm 8:3

I am taking time to read and meditate on “My 40 Favourite Psalms”, a reading plan I posted on my website.  Something really struck me about Psalm 8.  It says in verse 3, “When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place…” 

Do you see what I see?

The Psalmist says that God created our universe with his "fingers”.  It’s as though he sat down at the dining room table and began working on a science project – creating a universe. 

I can imagine God creating the Milky Way (our galaxy) – that’s only one little corner of His project.  He then gets his needle-point utensils out, included a magnifying glass and with his fingers sets our planets in its perfect place, every star – names every one of them – and then earth. With a single breath, He sets them to motion with perfect synchronism.

And then God made man.  Think of our size in light of creation – the science project on his dining room table – and that he actually values the praise of nursing babies.  And what does God desire? More than anything to have a personal living relationship with us.

My Point:  God is amazing, incomparable, all-powerful and worthy of all our praise and devotion.

My Question: How can man suggest that he doesn’t have time for Him?  How can man justify finding pleasure in something that man has created?

How absurd for a believer of God to say that he has no time to read God’s Word. His personal Word to man. It’s like lifting his puny, microscopic hand and trying to give God a slap in the face.  Right?

Need a Bible Read Plan for 2010?